Category: Community Activists
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Laquetta C Nelson
1955- Advocate for gay and lesbian rights. Co-founder of the Newark Pride Alliance. Awarded the 2004 Community Service Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Founder of the NJ Stonewall Democrats. Bibliography Queer Newark “Awards Honor Unsung Heroes and Future Leaders” Star Ledger Apr 21, 2005 The Advocate “In a Progressive State Where…
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Aneatha Dames Todd
1918-1998 Aneatha Dames Todd was vital in many civic organizations, especially within UMDNJ and United Hospitals. Black Mirror News called her “a voice for Newarkers”. She said, “I just have a desire to be part of things, rather than having things given to me. It may sound old fashioned but I still believe in doing…
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Abigail Malmgreen
1909-2009 Abigail Malmgreen was a lifelong political activist, who lived to 100. Abigail was a member of the United Nations Association, Americans for Democratic Action, the NAACP, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Givat Haviva Educational Association and the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (now New Jersey Peace Action) and was an organizer…
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Connie Williams Woodruff
1921-1996 Connie Woodruff was a journalist, labor organizer and civic activist. Connie was City editor of the New Jersey Herald News by 1952. She also wrote “On the Scene in Jersey” for the New York Amsterdam News. She wrote a weekly column “As I See It” in City News. She was also active on Cablevision…
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Nancy Zak
1948- Nancy Zak is a community organizer for environmental justice and housing with Ironbound Community Corporation. Nancy grew up in Lisle, IL and attended Mundelein University, now Loyola. She came to Newark in the early 1970s where she taught at Independence High School, an alternative school in Newark. By the late 1970s, she worked for…
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Amina Baraka
1942- Amina Baraka is an American poet, actress, author, community organizer, singer, dancer, and activist. She is the mother of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Born Sylvia Robinson, Amina grew up in Newark and attended Arts High School, class of Jan 1961. In 1960, she married Walter Wilson. In 1963, she was one of the founding…
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Adelaide Wilson
1902-Unknown Adelaide Wilson was raised in Newark and worked as a reporter, as early as 1920, when she lived on Hawthorne Avenue. In 1921 and 1922 she hiked 10,000 miles to San Francisco & back. She became engaged to a rancher in Denver and worked with movie star Dorothy Dalton, among other adventures. As a…
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Gladys Barker Grauer
1923-2019 Gladys Grauer was a Newark artist called “Newark’s matriarch of the arts”, who launched the Aard Studio Gallery in Newark in 1971, on Bergen Street. She also was a commercial art teacher in the Vo-Tech schools for 15 years. Her work has been displayed locally and nationally. Gladys also ran for office with the…